Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad wins 1st Leelavathi Memorial Open
IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad scored an unprecedented 9.0/9 and took a sole lead heading into the final round. He drew his last round game to clinch the championship with a score of 9.5/10. Reigning National Sub-Junior champion IM Raja Rithvik R also played brilliantly, scored sole 8.5/10 to secure second position. GM Diptayan Ghosh was placed third among five other players who finished at 8.0/10, due to his better tie-break score. Y V K Chakravarthy organized this event in memory of his late mother Leelavathi. The tournament had a total prize fund of Rs.30000. There was no entry fee for this event and total 236 players took part from twelve countries across the world including India. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Bala Chandra dominates the field
IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad played fantastic as he took a 9/9 lead requiring just a draw in the final round to clinch the championship. He finished at 9.5/10, a full point ahead of the runner-up. Reigning National Sub-Junior champion IM Raja Rithvik R also delivered a stellar performance as he finished at the first runner-up place with 8.5/10. Five players finished at 8.0/10, they are - GM Diptayan Ghosh, GM Laxman R R, IM Aronyak Ghosh, GM Vugar Rasulov of Azerbaijan and GM Shardul Gagare. Diptayan secured the second runner-up position due to a better tie-break score.
Total 236 players including 13 GMs, 15 IMs and 3 WIMs from India, Azerbaijan, Chile, Ireland, Montenegro, Nigeria, Peru, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, USA and Uzbekistan took part in this 10-Round event.
A Positional Masterpiece
Samudragupta (IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad) scored a fantastic win over IM Terry Renato of Peru with a fantastic display of positional play
Samudragupta - Terryr, Round 8
Find out the best plan for white after 24...Rae8
Replay all games of Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad
Uzbektiger95 gets reprogrammed by MasteredUI
MasteredUI (IM Raja Rithvik R) played brilliantly to beat Uzbektiger95 (GM Jakhongir Vakhidov) of Uzbekistan. Despite the fact that Vakhidov is a very strong player, it did not stop the reigning National Sub-Junior champion Rithvik to sacrifice his queen.
Uzbektiger95 - MasteredUI, Round 6
Will you play 21...Rfc8 here? Find out what happens if black goes 21...Rfc8 in the above mentioned diagram.
Replay all games of Rithvik Raja R
Diptayan wins the race
GM Diptayan Ghosh scored his best win over RACEKING (GM Harsha Bharathakoti) in Round 8. In Round 5, Diptayan got a wonderful opportunity to beat the eventual champion of the tournament, Samudragupta (IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad) but much to his chagrin, he missed it.
Diptayan - RACEKING, Round 8
Find out the best continuation for white after 17...Qe5
Replay all games of Diptayan Ghosh
Final Standings
Main Prize winners (Top 20)
| Rank | Name | Score | Prize money |
| 1 | IM Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla | 9.5 | ₹10000 |
| 2 | IM Raja Rithvik R | 8.5 | ₹5000 |
| 3 | GM Diptayan Ghosh | 8 | ₹3000 |
| 4 | GM Laxman R R | 8 | ₹2000 |
| 5 | IM Aronyak Ghosh | 8 | ₹1000 |
| 6 | GM Vugar Rasulov | 8 | ₹900 |
| 7 | GM Shardul Gagare | 8 | ₹800 |
| 8 | IM Terry Renato | 7.5 | ₹700 |
| 9 | IM Pranesh M | 7.5 | ₹600 |
| 10 | Kaustuv Kundu | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 11 | GM Dusan Popovic | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 12 | FM Aaryan Varshney | 7.5 | ₹500 |
| 13 | GM Harsha Bharathakoti | 7 | ₹500 |
| 14 | GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 7 | ₹500 |
| 15 | GM D Gukesh | 7 | ₹500 |
| 16 | IM S Nitin | 7 | ₹500 |
| 17 | R Ashwath | 7 | ₹500 |
| 18 | Dinesh Rajan M | 7 | ₹500 |
| 19 | IM Bharath Subramaniyam H | 7 | ₹500 |
| 20 | FM Nikhil Dixit | 7 | ₹500 |
Best KCA Student
| 1 | CM Karthik Sai CH | 5 | ₹500 |
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